Executive Report to the Board of Trustees • March 24, 2010 COLLEGE COMMUNITY CELEBRATES OPENING OF NEW HEALTH & WELLNESS BUILDING On March 24, the college celebrated the grand opening of the highly anticipated Health and Wellness Building with a ribbon cutting and open house for the entire community. The festivities included self‐guided tours of the building; as visitors toured the program areas, faculty and students from nursing, cosmetology, dental assisting and fitness were on hand to show off their new facilities and answer questions about their programs. The event also featured displays of archived photos of the programs over the years and a multimedia display showing the construction of the building. Refreshments were generously donated by McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. and live music was performed by students in CSM’s music department. RENOWNED PERCUSSIONISTS PERFORM IN CSM MUSIC CLINIC Internationally renowned percussionists Raul Rekow (left) and John Santos (below) presented a clinic on “Traditional and Contemporary Afro‐Cuban Percussion” for Santos’s students in CSM’s Afro‐Latin Percussion class. Rekow, a conga drummer with the legendary band Santana since 1976, has brought the conga drum to more stages across the world and audience members than anyone in the history of the instrument. Santos, a five‐time Grammy nominee, has become one of the foremost bandleaders, composers, producers, percussionists and educators in the field of Afro‐Latin music. The 90‐minute clinic included a demonstration of techniques and rhythms of various percussion instruments such as the timbales, tumbadoras (conga drums), bongos, chekere (beaded gourd), maracas, guiro, and campana, as well as an overview of the history, construction, and contemporary relevance of each instrument. In addition to the Afro‐Latin Percussion class at CSM, Santos also teaches at the Jazz School in Berkeley. STUDENT SUCCESS STORY: DAMION CALDWELL Eastern Washington University, B.S. degree San Francisco State University, M.S.W. degree In terms of a person’s life span, every step has historical implications, and you should treat your personal journey as such"‐‐ "MAKING HISTORY!!!I feel that my life experience has prepared me to make history and a valuable contribution, and that will be in the form of mentoring the next generation of student athletes". –Damion Caldwell When he graduated from high school, Damion Caldwell was eligible to play football for an out‐of‐state university but chose to attend CSM. His reason: he wanted to play for Larry Owens, the college’s highly‐respected former head football coach. That decision proved pivotal in shaping the direction Damion would follow. He credits “Coach O” and the entire football program at the college – coaches, trainers, athletic director and the rest of the staff – with providing an important support network and the structure he needed to be successful in the classroom and on the playing field. His coaches provided mentorship and counseling, they taught him life skills and they fostered a sense of independence that proved to be important when Damion transitioned to the next step in his college education. After playing two seasons at CSM, he transferred to Eastern Washington University (EWU) where he continued his studies and collegiate football career. Damion found he was better prepared as a transfer student from CSM than many players that began at EWU as freshman. “CSM gave me a valuable foundation which has served me well beyond athletics.” A highly successful student‐athlete, Damion earned a B.S. degree in developmental psychology. After seven years of working for various social service agencies ‐‐ which ran the gamut of a mental health facility for youth, medium security prison, mental hospital, group home for foster children and alternative high school ‐‐ he was ready for the next challenge: graduate school. Having recently completed a Masters in Social Work from San Francisco State University, Damion is currently a social worker in Child Protective Services with the County of San Mateo. However, his story is far from finished. Taking his experience in social work to the next level, Damion has applied for post‐graduate studies with the goal of becoming a social psychologist or a researcher in the area of social welfare. In an effort to give back what he received as an athlete at CSM, Damion has recently established a nonprofit organization, Walkthrough Inc., which provides “mentoring to community college football players throughout their journey to achieve the highest level of academic and athletic success.” His objective in developing the organization was to replicate the structure and “roadmap” that he experienced at CSM for other student athletes. It is not at all surprising that when he introduced the concept of Walkthrough, Inc. to CSM’s football staff, it was received with overwhelming support. KUDOS z CSM alum Ed McNicoll has been inducted into the Pacifica Sports Hall of Fame for his achievements as a college football player. The Oceana High School graduate played two years at CSM, was named the team’s most outstanding defensive player and earned conference honors. From CSM, he transferred to UC Davis, where he helped the Aggies win two conference championships. In his senior year, he was voted defensive captain by his teammates and honored with the Jerry Norris Award as the most valuable and most inspirational team player. Playing middle linebacker, he was named the NCAA defensive player of the year and was chose by the Football Gazette as an All American. He graduated from Davis in 1989, and thirteen years later, McNicoll was named to UCD’s All‐Decade team as an All American. Today he is the owner of a custom surfboard company. Ed McNicoll z Masterworks Chorale was honored with the 2009 Diamond Award ‐ Arts Organization from the Peninsula Arts Council. This prestigious award acknowledges outstanding contributions to the arts made by individuals and groups in San Mateo County. As a result of the award, Masterworks received numerous commendations from many public officials, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Assemblymember Ira Ruskin and the San Mateo City Council. Masterworks Chorale recently presented a salute to the American musical theater, “Spot Light on Broadway,” with classics from Rogers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein and Steven Sondheim. Masterworks’ Diamond Award & commendations z CSM’s Nursing Program has received two gifts from the Mary Topalis Trust totaling $125,000. Mary Topalis was an emeritus professor of nursing at San Francisco State University who lived in the neighborhood surrounding CSM. She was impressed with the nursing care she received from graduates of CSM’s nursing program while a patient at Sequoia Hospital. The funds are designated for student scholarships and program need. z The Associated Students partnered with Bobby Coyle of Drip Coffee Company on a fund raising effort for earthquake relief in Haiti. Donations made at Drip Coffee by faculty, staff and students totaled $532.00 with a matching donation by Coyle and Drip Coffee of $500.00. The money will be divided among CARE and the International Medical Corp, the two organizations assisting with relief efforts. z Former CSM football player Sione Ta’ufo’ou has been hired as head football coach at Menlo‐Atherton High School where he has spent the past three seasons as assistant coach. Ta’ufo’ou transferred from CSM to University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. His brother, Matt, who also played at CSM was a junior college All American and is currently a linebacker for Iowa State. z David Laderman, professor of film, had his book, Punk Slash! Musicals: Tracing Slip‐Sync on Film, published by the University of Texas Press. Bishnu Priya Ghosh, professor of English at UC Santa Barbara, has billed Laderman's work as a "lucid, entertaining, yet highly theoretical book that promises to say something new about punk." The book also has a full‐page ad in the Spring 2010 edition of Film Quarterly. In addition, Laderman's book review entitled "How the West Was Sung: Music in the Westerns of John Ford by Kathryn Kalinak," has been published in the same edition of Film Quarterly. z Ming Ren, adjunct art instructor, recently held a three‐day lecture and demonstration on “Propaganda Poster Art” at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. z A short film by Michelle M. Brown, associate professor of broadcasting, has been named as an official 2010 selection for the Sacramento International Film Festival. The film “Homogeneous: a cinépoem” follows three urban travelers from the point where their paths first cross: a bus stop. Since 2004 Brown has been shooting and editing a series of cinematic poetry with San Francisco poet LaDonna Witmer. In 2009 they won the Grand Festival Award in Arts at the Berkeley Video & Film Festival for “Homeland Security: a cinépoem,” for which they were granted Internet Movie Database credit. z Bev Madden, director of college development and marketing, was part of a team of presenters at the ACCCA Conference held this past February in San Francisco on the topic of “Online Social Networking, Inbound Marketing…Help I’m Lost in Cyberspace!” z Susan Petit, professor emeritus of English, has written an article entitled "Finding Flannery O'Connor's 'Good Man' in Marilynne Robinson's Gilead and Home." It has been published in the Winter 2010 issue of Christianity and Literature, a refereed journal published out of Pepperdine University. Last fall, she also presented on the works of Marilynne Robinson at the Pacific Ancient and Modern Literature Association and will do so again in May at the American Literature Association conference. EVENTS ` Come rain or shine, the Horticulture and Floristry Department will hold a Tomato the Horticulture and Floristry Department will hold a Tomato and Pepper Plant Sale on Saturday, April 10, from 9am‐1pm. Home gardeners can purchase seedlings of popular and unusual varieties of tomatoes and peppers, selected for local success, including varieties for cool and foggy areas. Proceeds benefit the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of San Mateo & San Francisco Counties, an organization providing home gardeners with free garden and pest information to promote sustainable gardening and a healthy environment. The sale will be located in CSM’s Greenhouse. ` On March 30 and 31, CSM’s Health Center will hold Spring Health Fair Days from 10 am – 1 pm in the Lower Lobby of the Health and Wellness Building. The event will include cholesterol testing, screenings for blood sugar and blood pressure, massage, Reiki, body fat calibration and information tables staffed by representatives from the San Mateo County STD/AIDs program and CSM’s nursing and dental assisting programs. CSM’s Health Center staff ` On Friday, March 26 from 11 pm, students in the Music Department will perform in a free concert. Selections will include everything from classical to pop, jazz, electronic music, original compositions, and more. ` On March 4, an ad hoc group of faculty, staff and students sponsored Call to Action: Educating the Whole Student, an advocacy event to defend public education. It combined film clips, poetry, music and dance performances and student panels on various budget related topics and their impact on students. This event was followed by the rally, Statewide Day of Action at the San Francisco Civic Center. ` Thirty‐eight faculty members attended the On Course Workshop Training sponsored by the Basic Skills Initiative Committee. The training was facilitated by Dr. Jonathan Brennan from Mission College and focused specifically on learner‐centered strategies to increase student motivation, retention and success. ` CSM’s Disabled Students Program and Services and Psychological Services co‐sponsored an all‐college brown bag seminar, “Psychosocial Aspects of Blindness and Limited Vision – Strategies for Success.” The presenters, Alice McGrath and Lynda Johnson of the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Palo Alto, are legally blind and provided a unique perspective about living and thriving with blindness. The seminar offered flex credit for faculty. ` CSM’s Transfer Services recently hosted a Transfer Fair for evening students. The event included representatives from more than a dozen four‐year colleges and universities.